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French Vocabulary

The Weather & Climatic Environments

Describing atmospheric conditions using idiomatic expressions such as il fait beau and il pleut.

Level A1 Category Vocabulary

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Lesson Summary

Describing atmospheric conditions using idiomatic expressions such as il fait beau and il pleut.

Vocabulary

Expressing the Weather

Weather descriptions in French rely on a small set of fixed impersonal constructions. The verb faire (see the verb faire) appears in many of them, as in il fait beau. Other expressions use the impersonal il with a specific verb. This lesson presents the core weather vocabulary, which is also linked to the seasons presented in days, months, and seasons.

Basic Weather Expressions

French	English	Structure
Il fait beau.	It's nice weather.	il fait + adjective
Il fait mauvais.	It's bad weather.	il fait + adjective
Il fait chaud.	It's hot.	il fait + adjective
Il fait froid.	It's cold.	il fait + adjective
Il fait frais.	It's cool.	il fait + adjective
Il fait du soleil.	It's sunny.	il fait + du + noun
Il fait du vent.	It's windy.	il fait + du + noun
Il pleut.	It's raining.	il + verb (pleuvoir)
Il neige.	It's snowing.	il + verb (neiger)
Le ciel est gris.	The sky is grey.	description with être
Le ciel est bleu.	The sky is blue.	description with être
Quel temps fait-il ?	What's the weather like?	question

Seasons and Weather

Weather expressions combine with the names of seasons and the prepositions used with them (see seasons):

- En été, il fait chaud.
- En hiver, il neige parfois.
- Au printemps, il fait souvent beau.
- En automne, il pleut beaucoup.

These structures are also used to describe the influence of weather on daily activities: Quand il pleut, je reste à la maison.

Examples

Aujourd'hui, il fait très froid et le ciel est gris.
Combination of il fait froid and le ciel est gris.
Au printemps, il fait beau et il y a du soleil.
Note the alternative il y a du soleil instead of il fait du soleil; both are used.

Related searches

These are the main phrases this lesson covers:

The Weather & Climatic EnvironmentsDescribing atmospheric conditions using idiomatic expressions such as il fait beau and il pleut.Report current weather conditions and relate them to seasonal patterns and personal plans.VocabularyA1vocabularyLearn French VocabularyFrench VocabularyExpressing the WeatherWeather descriptions in French rely on a small set of fixed impersonal constructions. The verb faire (see the verb faire) appears in many of them, as in il fait beau. Other expressions use the impersonal il with a specific verb. This lesson presents the core weather vocabulary, which is also linked to the seasons presented in days, months, and seasons.